By Alex Chantilas ’18, Contributor
I recently sat down with Sachi Bhati, ’18, to talk about her family’s non-profit organization. It is called Sight for Life, and it “raises money for an organization called Interact for Change, a subdivision of Interact for Health,” which helps local children get the health care that they deserve, but can’t necessarily get on their own. Sight for Life promotes health and wellness through donating to these local organizations, and has been doing so since her family founded the program. Not only that, Sight for Life has changed in a big way this year. “Interact for Health’s goal is to make Cincinnati the healthiest region.” Interact for change, Bhati says, is targeted towards, “schools in particular.” Interact for Change gives the money that we raise to two schools in Cincinnati. These schools, Withrow and the Academy of World Languages School, are not necessarily poor, but offer clinics for their students that allow for the kids to get healthcare that they would not necessarily be able to get without their schools. Kids that use these clinics have parents that don’t have the resources or time to take their kids to the doctor. Bhati says that this is because, “getting glasses and seeing the doctor is a big expense in both time and money.” Bhati’s family started this mission on May 2nd 2012, and is still going strong. It all started with Bhati’s sister Sonia and her father. Sonia was the first leader and her father was the one who thought of the whole initiative. He thought of the organization because he wanted his kids, “to know how it feels to help others.” His father and grandfather would wake up every morning and make large quantities of food to give out to the blind, homeless, and primate…yes they fed the monkeys too. After coming to America, her father wanted to do something to give back just as his father and grandfather did, while also inspiring his own children to do the same. So, he started Sight for Life and actively included his children in the program while at the same time emulated his own role models. Sachi has now been passed the baton, becoming the leader of this organization. With her new role, she wanted to make her own mark. In the past, Sight for Life would, “send the money to the Tarabhai Eye Camp,” but Bhati wanted to be more involved in the impact that she made on others so she decided to send the money to a locally owned and operated organization. In this way, Bhati “can help a cause in Cincinnati and be more available to help while also providing students with volunteer options.” The added perk of keeping it local, is that Interact for Change has a 1-1 match program going on right now in which however much money is donated by Sight for Life will be matched. This doubles the amount donated and therefore help these kids even more than you would think. Every little bit donation count for that much more, while helping a great, local cause.
